Dilemma
by Day-ingale
Summary: This has got to be the BIGGEST problem the tenth has ever faced. Kokuyou gang? Nope. Varia? Still no. Byakuran? Not again. Being the Vongola boss? Far from it.  I'll give you a clue: Reborn's actually worried. answer? Mama's gone missing!
1. Chapter 1

It was just another regular day in Sawada Tsunayoshi's life: a hyperactive cow-child rummaging from his magical hair-pocket things like a purple bazooka taller than him, grenades and bombs, another baby flicking the former child to the wall next to him with nothing than a finger (occasionally with a green mallet), a silver-haired guy glaring and threatening to shove dynamites up to whoever-looked-at-them-the-wrong-way's ass, a baseball-lover calming every guy (most of the time only one) holding some form of explosives seemingly without a care in the world. Oh yes, a very normal day, indeed.

And don't forget to mention a failing grade in the morning's algebra test.

"What am I gonna do with this score?" He groans mostly to himself as he walks back home from an excruciating day at school (yet another normality).

Beside him, the silver-haired seventeen-year-old was almost chirping in happiness. "Don't worry, Juudaime! I'll help tutor you! And maybe next time, I can steal your paper and answer it myself!" Gokudera says, launching a fist in the air, with a tone of intense enthusiasm.

"Hiee! There's no need to do that, Gokudera-kun. I.. I guess I'll just study harder next time." Tsuna laughs nervously. There's just no way he would let his right-hand do his bidding. This was a quiz, for mercy's sake!

"Haha.., Tsuna's right, Gokudera. Tsuna can do it himself," laughs the ever-calm swordsman as he positioned his hands behind his head. "You just need to _feel_ the answer, Tsuna. I'm sure your instincts would shout you the answers. Like _boom!_ And the answer is there, in your head."

Tsuna sweatdrops and resorted to laughing nervously. Seriously, his rain guardian's antics, techniques—whatever he calls them—in answering mathematical questions were beyond him. Who could answer a complex equation complete with square roots and functions just because his guts told him? Tsuna shakes his head. No one, probably, save for his quite eccentric friend.

Their walk home was pretty silent like that, save for the humming of a rather pleased bomber. There were no thugs that dared attack Tsuna today, neither were there any random grenades that were targeted at the tenth. The day was going well.., _too_ well.

"_Tadaima_," Tsuna announces as he opens the door and removes his outdoor shoes and puts on his slippers. A faint _okairi_ was heard from the direction of the kitchen. Thinking the kids were just having their usual afternoon snacks, he went straight to his room and what greeted him was an explosion right at his face.

_What the_, he wonders as he tightly closed his eyes and waved his hand to get the smell from his nose. _What is a bomb doing in my ro—?_

"So you're back, Dame-Tsuna," chimes a baby dressed in formal black attire complete with an orange-brimmed fedora as he casually jumps off the study table. "I suggest we eat our snacks first before starting this new strategy I came up," Tsuna only then notices a huge ball with spikes hanging from the room's ceiling, ominously swinging like a hanging light suspended above a suspect getting interrogated. It was the size of a head plus some finger-long needles protruding from it. It looked like it was fitted just right to be able to crush a head. A very nice creation, it was.

_Should've expected from Reborn…_

"Uhm... Reborn?" Reborn only looked at him as a form that he was listening. "What is that spiked ball doing hanging in my room?" Reborn only smirked as he casually strode past Tsuna on his way down the kitchen. That left Tsuna with no other choice than to comply with Reborn's suggestion.

So after Tsuna had dressed into his usual 27 shirt and khaki shorts, he promptly went to the kitchen where a baby world war three was taking place, as usual.

"Die, Reborn!"

Oh, he should've known. There was not a meal in the Sawada household that the cow-child misses declaring death threats to the arcobaleno.

"You're annoying, Lambo." And with a simple flick of his right hand, a pair of grenades thrown at him by Lambo was flung back at the poor child. Colorful explosions were heard, a wonder as to how Tsuna's mother can ignore them.

Again defeated by Reborn, Lambo sits up with a few burnt scratches on his cow-suit.

"Gotta..," each word separated by a racking sob, "stay—calm." And with a fumbling in his broccoli-like hair, he took out a strange red bazooka Tsuna had never seen before.

"C-Calm down, Lambo," Tsuna was having his usual panicking on seeing his adoptive younger brother breaking down to tears. Who knows what that bazooka can do? It looks like new and not to mention dangerous…

If it was even possible, Lambo cried even more and his hand on the trigger…

"JUUDAIME! I brought some—"

And due to the shock on Gokudera's loud voice, Lambo stumbled over, accidentally pulling the trigger as he crashed down the floor. Everyone looked as the still red canon ball of the bazooka lightly rolled over to the most unsuspecting person in the planet: Sawada Nana.

"Oh, what—?" she wasn't even given the chance to ask what on earth a red ball was doing rolling beneath her when the 'red ball' blew up, sending a veil of orange smoke cover Nana's silhouette. And when the smoke dissipated to a light vapor, there was not a part of the light of the house to be seen.

And all active volcanoes erupted within the Sawada residence: Lambo was wailing screeches now; I-pin was close to activating her Pinzu-Timed Super Explosion now due to the shock of finding Mama gone; Reborn, as unusual as it can ever be imagined, was sweating a bullet, his eyebrows a little furrowed; And Tsuna's jaw was dropped as his mind still hasn't processed what had happened to his mom.

Gokudera's incessant questioning of "ARE YOU ALRIGHT, JUUDAIME?" wasn't helping either.

"Lambo," Reborn's tone was not unlike the one Hibari uses when he was interrogating the herbivores to be bitten, "where did you send Mama?"

Lambo whimpered as he sniffed back snot. "L-Lambo d-doesn't know."

"EHH?" Tsuna's girly scream was back full force. "What do you mean we don't know where kaa-san is now? Who knows what will happen? Is she gonna be alright? What if something happened to her? Are we ever going to see her again? This is bad…"

"Juudaime, please calm down. I'm sure we can ask someone from the Bovino, probably," came the hopingly-assuring voice of the right-hand. He needed to be of some good to his boss during these kinds of time.

"Hmm, Gokudera's right." Reborn was scrutinizing the red bazooka. Good thing it doesn't seem to be broken from the impact earlier save for teeny-tiny crack near the mouth. "Call the Bovino."

* * *

><p>Nana blinked as she seemingly fell from the sky. She was surrounded by buildings made of brick, most of them only with a single level. The streets were more or less cemented but with stones seen protruding here and there, and not to mention a little bit too uncrowded.<p>

"Where is this?" she wondered as she got herself up, and patted her earthed pink apron. Just a second ago she was in her kitchen, baking some cookies and brewing espresso for the kids, when a red ball suddenly prodded her feet. And then...

"What are you doing just standing there?" came the panicking voice of what she presumed was an old man. She looked at her left and indeed, there was an old man wearing a worn cow boy hat, and a simple shirt under a brown vest. His brown shorts were a little rundown too. "There's another guild that's attacking the city! Come and hide!"

Though not really knowing what a 'guild' exactly is, Nana hurried to obey. Judging from the man's tone and manner alone, this guild attacking the city wasn't a good thing. Seriously, any attacking isn't a good thing.

"Ano, excuse me, but what exactly is this 'guild'?" She whispered as the old man gently pushed her behind him.

After a final look around the streets, the old man whispered back, "It's the guild of the 'Red Fiends'!"

Blinking, she further asked, "Red Fiends?"

The old man seemed to come to a conclusion to himself that this woman before him did not have any knowledge on the said guild. "The Red Fiends is what the guild call itself. They're fairly easy to recognize. Most, if not all of them, have red hair and all of them wear blue bandanas around their heads. Oh wait, there was _one_ bald member of the guild," the old man mused mostly to himself, "so that would make it most of them. And they all have similar tattoos etched on their faces. The tattoos loo-"

And there was an explosion on the street across them. The stationary cart of what looked like watermelons was now bathing in the fruits' red juice. A manic laugh was heard.

"You think you can hide, huh, filthy rats? I know you're there!"

And with another sound of presumably a blunt weapon, Nana heard the glass of a nearby shop's windows shatter. It was followed by a woman's scream.

"H-How.. dare you..?"

"HA! How dare me?" Guffaws from what Nana pictured were buff, tall men were heard. "_You_ dare opposed us? WE'RE THE RED FIENDS! No one can defeat us!"

After a sickening cry of plea, the woman's voice faded. Nana was terrified. What happened to the woman?

"Peek-a-boo!" And a large, _red, _hairy head popped out from the spacing between the walls.

* * *

><p>Bahh.. and here you go. I can't remember what exactly had dove into my mind to think of this. Just that, it was there and I had to write it before it was gone.<p>

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Although please, _if_ you are even thinking of reviewing, _please_ do not include the words: update, soon, now.., especially in one sentence. I do not honestly know when i can continue this (though rest assured, it **_will_** be). But that will only be the case, of course, if someone minds enough to leave a review.

**_I own neither KHR nor FT. _**_Or it would have sucked badly._

_~Day-ingle_

__8-5-11__


	2. Chapter 2

"Peek-a-boo!" And a large, _red,_ hairy head popped out from the spacing between the walls.

A surprised gasp escaped from Nana's and the now shivering old man's lips. They both took a reflexive step away from the offensive head, but the cramped alley between the stores they've been hiding in didn't seem to comply with their wishes. Not to mention the storage boxes sandwiched also between the walls are blocking their way further behind the stores.

In short, they were trapped like a chicken in a soup.

Then, without missing a beat, the man with the red hair reached out both of his hands and dragged them to the streets. Nana discovered resisting would be futile from the firmness of the man's grip.

Looking around the streets, it wasn't so empty as before as there were more than a couple of dozens of red-haired men loitering around. The heads, all red and big, swerved around in their direction, one man stopping in his act on grabbing a child—the child of the woman from earlier, Nana presumed—by the collar.

"Hey, you!" shouted one of the buffiest men Nana had ever seen, pointing a finger at her, although the distance (around only a foot) between them did not allow his arm to stretch to be considered intimidating. Nana tilted her head in innocence, making her look more like she had at her son's age.

"WHAT ARE YOUR VALUABLE ASSETS?"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

It wasn't long after Gokudera had dialed the Bovino family that the tenth generation of the Vongola (and with the boss's tutor _and_ the boss's extended family) was sitting back on the comfortable seats of the first-class private plane, which the ninth had stashed, camouflaged, in the nearby airport.

The Bovino, as long as the call had gone (which was approximately measured to be 0:09 seconds), had not hesitated in the slightest bit to help out the Vongola. Reborn's tone whilst talking to them might have not been needed for the persuasion.

Aboard the plane, it was still as chaotic as ever.

"Shut up, _yakyuu-baka_! The tenth is particularly worried about his mom! As his right-hand man, I should be helping him in his misery!"

"_Maa, maa_, Gokudera," a laugh was heard. "Tsuna's not that bad as you think. He's just happily staring out the window, see?" says the seemingly forever cheerful rain guardian while leaning his head to the boss's direction.

"That's right to the EXTREEEMMEE, _tako-_head! Sawada here can take care of himself just fine!" and of course, the _extreme_ idiot just had to shake Sawada to death, or at least he thought did.

"GYAAHAHAHAHA! Lambo-san is dizzy!" exclaimed a certain someone, whose voice certainly wasn't a certain _juudaime_'s. "Gyahahahaha! _Ne, ne_, I-pin! I'm on a roller coaster! Gyahahahah!"

Due to Ryohei's shock in finding the cow-child in his hands, his bandaged fingers slipped and poor, poor Lambo. He landed on the rather hard-looking floor of the plane with a loud thump. Everyone's eyes seemed to land on him as they waited with baited breaths as to how the infamous crybaby would react to his fall. And of course, he wasn't infamous for nothing.

"Gotta..," he started his all too known phrase, "stay… calm." And then he proceeded to bawl his eyes out, and then fumbled around his broccoli-shaped black hair. And to everyone's dread, a red bazooka found its way into Lambo's hands.

"Oh no! Lambo-kun's ranked 2nd out of 3 513 child-Mafioso likely to screw up when upset!"

Cue squeaky voice, "Lambo!"

"Damn it! I thought we took the bazooka—"

"Who gave Lambo that thing—?"

"THIS IS BAD TO THE EXTREEEMMMEEEE!"

"H-Hieee! Lambo put away that—"

"Lambo, be a good boy and hand it over," at least someone had the wit to ask the bazooka from the cow-child instead of just fussing over his having it.

Lambo sniffed as he looked at Yamamoto, still teary-eyed, then at the bazooka he was holding in, and back again. "Lambo don't wanna."

"Now, Lambo. You should now Mama's… sent away with that bazooka, right? We can't have anyone—"

_Oh no… Now that he mentioned Mama.._, was that the collective thought of everyone

"Mama?" Lambo looked back down at the bazooka in his arms. Yamamoto nodded in response. "Mama's gone because she got hit?"

"Yeah, by that and your idiocy, _aho-shi_. So, hand. it. over."

Gokudera was only met with a glare from similar green eyes plus a tongue stuck out. "Bleh, _aho-dera_!"

And so, feeling that he was provoked, Lambo proceeded to pull the trigger and a familiar red cannon ball soared through the air.

Good thing someone was a genius.

"Baseball!"

Eyes sharpened suddenly and hand immediately grabbing the _shinai_ perpetually hung on his back, Yamamoto did a swift lash as the _shinai_ promptly turned to a _katana_, Yamamoto's _Shigure Kintoki_. The cannon ball sliced neatly into halves, each falling in front of I-pin, and to the worst lucked person ever to exist, Sawada Tsunayoshi.

There was a puff of orange smoke that covered I-pin and Tsuna when Yamamoto realized his mistake. It wasn't his bat he was carrying today. And that meant the 'ball' wasn't going homerun.

"Oops. My bad," and then he laughed nervously.

_As if that's gonna fix anything… the idiot._

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

"Easy there, Natsu," said a pretty blond lady clad in a rather ridiculously sparse apparel. "I know you're not much for traveling but—"

"Oh shut it, Lucy," then this certain _Natsu_ stuck out his pink head out the window as he emptied his stomach from the various foods he'd consumed for lunch. What a waste…

"Ugh.., what would I not give to _not_ have this motio—_barf_—"

"Don't worry, Natsu. I think we're almost there, aye!" a cat with an unusual fur color of blue patted his partner's shoulder as his other paw tightened to a fist and raised above his head.

"Yes, yes, Natsu," the blond, Lucy, then took out a rolled up paper from her bag as she read it to her partners, whom she doubted even knew what guild they are supposed to be subduing. "According to the request, this guild has been terrorizing small towns. And according to one of these, they're supposedly going to ransack the town of Dandelion next, which is their neighboring town. It's been reported from several sightings that the guild is composed mostly, if not all, men. Says to have a few half-giant members, one of the reasons why they are hard to suppress. Oh gee, good luck with this Natsu," she offhandedly glanced at her sick partner and the cat whose eyes turned to saucers as he heard about the half-giants.

"They're also known for their ruthless ways, not caring at all about their victim's status. It's even said that they are even more brutal towards the high-positioned men. This client sure is nice enough to include so much information. Oh, it also says here that they're posting a request since they have a hunch that they will be next if this guild won't be stopped. Natsu? Happy?"

"Yeah..," he nodded as he perched his elbow on the window sill of the train and his best cat friend nodding vigorously on the seat beside him. "I get it. Are we there yet?"

"Should be. Oh, here we are."

And then the train started to slow down as a voice echoed through the speakers saying something about arriving on the Elm Wood Forest Station.

As they stepped out the train, "Wait, Lucy…"

"Yes?"

"Why are we in a forest?"

"Aye! In the forest?"

"Of course! Didn't I mention it?"

"Nope."

"Err… Let's go!"

"Aye?"

"What?"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

"Ah!" A little girl, aged 7, looked up in surprise as she felt herself land on earthy ground on her rear. And as she did so, she heard someone growl.

Eyes widened with shock and fear, she screamed for desperate help. But she heard no one answer which she soon found reasonable as she was in the middle of something one could call a forest. Not to mention that the big bad wolf was hot on her heels at it tried to nip even her tiny feet.

Fumbling around the root-floored forest, and jumping around on the wide branches of the bigger trees, she remembered her training sessions with her equally short teacher. They were usually in the forest, and her training always ended up with her being sweaty with perspiration and of course their eating her teacher's favorite snack.

But this time, _she_ was going to be the snack. And that wasn't good news at all.

"Ouch!" She unwittingly tripped herself over a protruding root of a nearby elm tree and landed with a soft thud on the leafy forest floor.

Looking back, she realized that the gap between her and the wolf was now too little to run away still complete with her feet. It was also just pure bad luck that she'd forgotten to bring her _gyoza_ dumplings with her. What more? That wolf looked too big for her to take out in a single punch—or kick perhaps—and she couldn't waste a single second in trying not to be eaten.

Having made up her mind just as the wolf lunged at her, she quickly moved on her feet to get under the big bodice of the black-furred wolf instead of under its opened jaws, then swiftly delivered a blow to its stomach. It lurched up from the impact of the kick and made both a way and however little amount of time to run away.

Taking the chance to run away, I-pin headed back to the direction they came from, as she knew it would take a moment later for the wolf to turn around and sniff its way to where she was.

_Now_, she thought as she ducked behind a huge elm, _how about I give you a good beating?_

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

There were a lot of birds chirping as if they were gushing about a new, hot as the sun gossip. A nearby river's rush to the sea can be clearly heard as well, if one would listen intently enough.

"Are you sure we're not lost, aye?"

Lucy looked like she was asked to run around the entire town of Magnolia and scream her ears out an "I LOVE IT WHEN YOU UNCONSCIOUSLY THROW OFF YOUR SHIRT, GRAY-SAMA!" and then proceeding to jump at the town plaza's foot-deep fountain as if expecting to jump off a cliff. She blushed as if she was thrown at the face a tomato paste.

"O-Of course not! It says right here," she exclaimed as she pointed guiltily at the innocent piece of paper in her hands. The paper had a map sketched onto it—if you would count a toddler's scribbles a proper map. "We're walking along these dotted lines and if we walk some dozen of meters straight more, then we would arrive to the entrance of the town!"

Natsu looked at her as if she told him two and two make one. "You sure about that, Lucy? I'm hungry."

"Aye! Maybe there's fish in the river I hear..?"

"Shut it Natsu! It's not my fault you threw up all your lunch back there in the train." Then turning to the cat she said, "And no, Happy, you've eaten enough fish earlier. And besides, we can't waste time catching fish."

"Lucy's grumpy..," the cat began.

"Yeah, yeah… she won't even admit she got us lost…"

"And now she's taking it out on me not to eat fish…"

"And me not to eat lunch again…"

"And…"

"OH BE QUIET YOU TWO!"

"See, Happy?"

"Aye, Natsu! Lucy the Cranky Mage had made her move."

"I'm not cranky!"

"What did I say?"

Cutting off their argument, they heard a loud growl that echoed throughout the forest.

"W-What was that?"

"Ooh! An adventure," Natsu happily said as he rubbed his hands in excitement. "Happy!"

"Aye!"

"Wait you two! Where are you going?"

"Off to find the adventure, of course!" Both Natsu and Happy had raised a fist as if going on a long journey to find the Golden Fleece, before turning their backs to Lucy and proceeding to run off to who knows where.

"Oh come on! Wait up!"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

Tsuna blinked as he tried to make out the place he was currently in. His mother had been blown away with the bazooka and had never come back within the usual five minutes and so he figured he would be stuck in wherever this was for an indefinite amount of time. But that also meant he can find his mother as long as he wants to.

"Oi, kiddo!" a voice called out, a bit distant and rough.

Tsuna found out he had landed on a dingy pub. It wasn't too shabby with its somehow warm lighting and antiquity look. It was like he was some kind of historical movie.

"Oi! I called you, kiddo!"

Realizing he was the one being called, he turned around and saw a robust middle-aged-looking man, sporting fingerless leather gloves on his huge hands were he held a green bottle Tsuna assumed to be beer, or something along the lines. He was wearing a huge grin which brought out the sparkling nature of his brown eyes and was dressed in a simple red polo under a black vest. He looked more like mafia than a bartender to Tsuna.

"Ah… I'm sorry," Tsuna bowed lowly as he sincerely apologized. "I thought you were calling someone else…"

The man grinned as he put down the bottle and walked his way to Tsuna. "No worries. I just thought it was strange for someone to pop out in a pub so early in the afternoon. And you're a minor."

Tsuna blushed as though remembering a time when he had been forced to drink liquor. He wasn't quite fitted for it. "Ah no… I really didn't mean to end up here..."

"A transportation spell gone bad, eh? Then you better go home, kiddo."

Tsuna found himself liking the man for his hospitality. Who knows just how many people are left who were as kind as this man he was talking with. And he didn't even know him.

"I-I think I should be." Then after an afterthought, he continued, "do you know where I am, by any chance?"

"Of course! Cornflower street, you are!"

Tsuna tilted his head to his side. "Corn…flower street?"

The man looked like he had a light bulb popping above his head with a sound. "You're not around here, huh? I'll show you around then."

The man turned for a minute to place the bottle on the shelf behind the counter and then proceeded to open the front door (Tsuna assumed) out to the streets.

Tsuna only then realized something.

"_Ano_… I'm Tsunayoshi." Tsuna asked not unkindly, "What's your name, _oji-san_?"

"Of course! I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Ryo Okabe! Nice to meet you, kiddo!"

Tsuna shook the offered hand and smiled back. This man was a lot like Ryohei-_niisan_, just toned down and matured.

When they got out to the streets, he was greeted by a bladed boomerang which would have cut right through his neck had he not dodged it. Thank _kami_ he was trained by a monster tutor.

That didn't mean he wasn't shaken though.

"Hiee! What was that?"

"Ah! _Gomennasai_ _nii-san_! I didn't mean to…"

Tsuna smiled nervously at the lad running his way to him. The boomerang had stuck itself to the wall next to the pub's door and Tsuna helped the younger boy take it off.

"Just be careful next time…"

The boy grinned widely at Tsuna before he bowed again in apology and ran back to his friends.

"That was some good reflexes you have, kiddo!" Okabe patted Tsuna's shoulder once, with a bit of a force, as he beamed toothily at the much younger boy. "Not many would've been able to dodge that fast."

"I really am just used to surprise attacks…"

"Meh," Okabe stroke his chin as though a century-old wise man. "Guess you can be a mage, then! Interested?"

"M-mage?"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

Meanwhile, the tenth generation Vongola, with the gang, had arrived at Italy and had settled into the comfy castle of the Vongola.

"Maa, Gokudera," Yamamoto was so close to give in to the temptation to shove a tub full of ice water on his fellow guardian, just so he'd cool down. "Tsuna will be fine."

"Shut it, yakyuu-baka. Just why did you think the tenth is not here right now?" Gokudera was sulking in a corner, his knees held close to his chest as he let his lengthy bangs cover his worried emerald eyes. "How can we get him back?"

"Because the red ball blew them up? And… I don't know about that." Even the rain guardian's smile was faltering a little. There's no way a loyal companion as he would be unmoved with his boss's being M.I.A.

"Gyahahhaah! Aho-dera is such a crybaby!" And here enters the real reason of the three people's 'disappearance'. "Gyahahha! Lambo-san wins! Aho-dera's such a crybaby, crybaby!" Lambo was making weird dance moves with slaps to his cow-printed pants on the rear side, and some twirls which would have made the ballerinas run for their money.

"Shut up, you cow. What if the Tenth's in trouble? As his right-hand man, I should be by his side and prevent anything bad to happen to the boss. I'm such an incompetent man. I'll have to commit seppuku… yes, such a useless right-hand you are. You should just go and sulk up in a corner of dynamites and smoke…"

"YOU AN EXTREME IDIOT, TAKO-HEAD?" There was a slight shaking of the chandelier hanging from the ceiling due to the vibration. Ryohei should really try to get into a chorale. "SAWADA WON'T LIKE THAT ONE BIT! YOU THINK HE'LL BE HAPPY IF HIS RIGHT HAND MAN JUST GO UP AN—"

A rather big green mallet set with a pair of eyes promptly found its way on the boxer's head, effectively silencing the extremely loud mouth he is.

"At least keep your voice down, Ryohei," Reborn looked down at Ryohei as he proceeded to climb up on him as he felt everyone's eyes fall to him. "We've talked about how to get Mama, I-pin, and _Dame_-Tsuna back in this world."

There was an audible sigh of relief that echoed in the room.

"But of course," Reborn smirked as he again felt the tension from earlier come back, "there's a catch."

Pairs of eyes looked into another as they took in the piece of information.

"Just what's the catch, Reborn-san?"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

~**A/N**

**Oh yeah, good day to you all. And thanks for reading.**

**And there are some things I want to tell some people. :)**

_XWhiteDragonX_: Thank you. I've been thinking on how to differentiate mine from other similar fics, and I think I'm being successful so far. And actually I've read your fic for FT and KHR also(although I've used my other account) and I do hope you'll continue to write yours too. And I'd like to say the same to you. You can do it! :)

_cael05_: Thank you. And yes, I thought it would be different from others because of that. Maybe that was one of the reasons why I even posted this. It would be boring if all fics would have the same plotline, right? But as you've read (judging from the fact that you're already reading this bottom part), I hope you liked it. :)

_MizukixXxKaryna_: Thank you. I needed your encouragement. :)

_khr and fairy tail liker_: Hello, and thank you also. And as much as I'm thankful of your suggestions, I'll be doing something else. Yes, maybe I'll take an idea from your suggestions but I will be trying not to make Tsuna and the others from KHR the heroes of the story. You see, I am a bit annoyed myself about those overpowering things. I am alright with it, but it it's overboard, that's a no-no. So I'll try and keep it from going that way. But thank you for the suggestions anyway. They sparked something in my head. :)

**Oct.15.2011**


	3. Chapter 3

The sun was hanging low upon the heavens, its fiery gleam of light a hazy glow behind the clouds. The forest was dim enough when the sun was high up and now was reduced to near-night darkness. But it didn't matter to I-pin. This big, bad wolf will be lying on its back soon.

"GRRR—" The wolf thrice her height growled as it pawed around the seven-year-old, trying to catch this midget for his supposed-to-be afternoon snack.

It finally pounced on I-pin as she clenched her hands to a fist and jumped herself, and then landed on the wolf's snout. It snarled in annoyance and shook its head in an attempt to shake her off. I-pin almost pulled out the wolf's fur as she hung on for dear life before finally kicking its left eye, making it writhe in pain.

She quickly somersaulted away, contemplating on what to do next as she watched the wolf thrash about noisily on the forest floor. Making up her mind, she climbed up the tree near the wolf and jumped onto its exposed belly; the next instance pulling its front leg behind it, successfully hindering it from attacking the next second.

She jumped back as the wolf collected itself.

Furious it was outsmarted; the wolf promptly set itself up, limping towards its right as the midget had bended its left front leg. Hissing and growling at her, it bared its fangs and again made a launch on her.

_This wolf is persistent_, I-pin thought anxiously as she rolled on her right to dodge the pointed teeth the wolf was showing off. Had her stamina not been trained, she would have been done for a long time ago. But still, she has to end it now.

Delivering a roundhouse kick, I-pin sent the wolf flying as it lost a few teeth before slamming into a tree. Breathing heavily, I-pin gave herself a split-second rest before her eyes widened in shock as she didn't see the wolf lounge at her the third time. Instinctively throwing her arms around her, she braced herself for the attack… which surprisingly did not come. She opened her eyes cautiously only to find the wolf burned to a crisp.

"HAHA! Look at that, Happy!" I-pin looked to her right as she saw a pink-haired man, his hand in a fist as he talked animatedly to a blue cat. Wait, a blue, _flying _cat?

"Aye, Natsu!" She heard the cat reply. She unconsciously took a step back. Not only had she seen a flying cat, but also a talking one?

The pink-haired guy was now walking his way to her, grinning toothily, still. "Oh! Are you alright there, kid? That wolf was huge. Good thing we came or it would've eaten you! You alright?"

She barely stammered out a "Y-yes…" as she blushed scarlet on the thought that she was saved by a complete stranger. But quickly reminding herself of her tutor's lessons, she relaxed. Bowing, she said, "_Konnichiwa_. I'm I-pin. Thank you for saving me."

The guy only laughed as his grin grew wider. "I'm Natsu." Then grabbing the head of the blue cat hovering near his head, he continued, "And this one's Happy."

"Aye! Nice to meet you I-pin!"

After a few moments of awkward conversations on how a cat was talking _and_ flying, she agreed on going with them to their journey before going back to their guild. She then met the blonde companion of her newly made friends.

"Hi there, I-pin. I'm Lucy," she smiled as she offered a hand. I-pin shook it.

"So I heard from Natsu that you were running away from a wolf?"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

Nana was starting to worry. Surely, she had been gone for hours now. What could have the children been doing now? For sure they'd be hungry. They always had snacks during this time of the day. Maybe Bianchi would feed the children, but her kitchen skills were not exactly of the best, either.

Heaving a sigh, she stared at the wide backs of the red-heads who were now making their way to what seemed like the center of another town. They had just finished satisfying themselves in bullying some unfortunate souls in the outskirts of the said town, right after they attacked the previous town. Nana couldn't believe there existed such horrible men.

Ah, she thought to herself, but Mitsu-chan isn't like that at all. If she was in any situation other than a kidnapping (mom-napping), she would've giggled like a school girl in love.

She was surprised when she suddenly bumped into one of the beefy men as they had stopped in their tracks. Peeking through their massive bodies, she saw the cause of their pause: a man.

His cloak was billowing slightly with the wind, giving him a sense of authority and power. With his strangely calm eyes, he looked into the ruthless ones of the red headed men.

"Did you really think," he said as he showed his gloved hand from beneath his mantle, "we would let the peace be disturbed so easily?"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

Tsuna was beyond startled when the man he had been walking with suddenly dragged him from the nondescript part of the town they were in. "Ryo-san, just where are we—"

"Relax, kiddo. I'm taking you to a guild," Ryo told him with his usual toothy grin.

"G-guild? What is that? And what am I going to do there?"

"Told ya you could make a good mage, although I don't know if you can do magic," he said with a scratch on his dirty blonde hair. "But either way, you need help to go home, eh?"

Tsuna thought about it. Sure, he really did not know where he was right now. And who knows what punishment he'd have to face once he gets back? Reborn could use his inattentiveness to train—ahem, torture him further than he ever had. He could almost imagine his limp body hanging from a root luckily sticking out of a cliff. Tsuna cringed.

From his slight panic of his expected death sentence, he failed to hear the one word which would have made him change his mind: magic.

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

Ryohei had woken up just as Reborn started on the handed down 'superstition' of the Vongola. "DID I HEAR RIGHT, TO THE EXTREME?"

"I-impossible..," Gokudera muttered to himself as his hand covered his slightly scowling lips in disbelief.

The lone cloud who was miraculously silent, in terms of picking fights, until now stared impassively at the infant. As usual, only a smirk graced his lips in unison with his thoughts, "At last, someone to bite to death…"

Chrome was quieter ever than before as she thought about the revealed circumstances. If it was to be believed…

Chrome stroked Lambo's head. The child had—thank the heavens—calmed down at last.

A laugh echoed in the room. Yamamoto's as usual. "I guess Tsuna's life is still as crazy as ever." and then proceeded with another series of laughs. He was happy that at least, if only by a slight degree, Tsuna would be in relatively lesser danger.

"You all heard right," they could almost feel the smirk on Reborn's face, even if he had turned his back on them. "So who is up for the challenge?"

Hibari immediately stepped forward, his steel eyes boring into Reborn's black ones.

"I will go."

Reborn smirked, already getting the reason behind his eagerness. "That's fine with me. Anyone else?"

"I will, Reborn-san! As his right-hand man…"

"I'll come too, if that's alright… hahaha."

"EXTREME! I WILL GO AND EXTREMELY FIND SAWADA… and him."

"I-I think… I think I'll stay, if it's okay."

"You can stay, Chrome. You can help take care of the kids. Bianchi seriously can't cook," Reborn said as he walked towards Chrome. The other guardians' eyes followed his every move. Then he looked over his shoulder and told them, "Actually, I'm coming too."

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

So right now, they were supposed to be in front of a guild, somewhere that he maybe could find help to go back home. It bode well with him; except for the fact that the building he was facing was tilting to its right, blocks of stone were sticking out of the structure, and plainly speaking, this building is near its doom.

"Ano.., Ryo-san? Are we in the right place?"

Okabe beamed, as though he knew Tsuna would react like this and that he knew a secret Tsuna didn't. "We _are _in the right place." Then after seemingly thinking to himself what else to say, he said, "I guess it's a _bit_ more rundown now than the last time I checked, but this is only the guild in our little town, Summer Ember. The next town, that'd be Magnolia, does have more guilds which are stronger of course. But it would be worthwhile to visit this one first. And besides, you'll see the surprise."

Tsuna nodded, although he was a bit unsure of Ryo's last statement. He followed the man on the misaligned stone steps toward what was looks like to be the door. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Ryo still smiling like a certain rain guardian.

Ryo tapped the door twice, which Tsuna figured would have broken down had he decided to knock on firmly. "Is anybody here?"

There was a moment of silence where Tsuna and his companion looked at each other with bated breaths. Then they heard a creak as a young woman opened the door. However, she did not hold back on her strength and knocked the door off its hinges. She blushed scarlet as she realized what she'd done.

"Oops. I guess I really have to watch out for the doors." She promptly set aside the door (now only a wood carved to look like an aged door) before facing the visitors with a smile. "I'm sorry for the accident. Now, come inside! Come on!" She stepped aside to let them in.

Tsuna felt his jaw drop. Never had he seen such a homely place such as this. Surely, the outside was far from attractive but the inside is so much more _a lot _better. The lighting was a bit similar to Ryo's pub, warm and cheery. The space was not much but they made the most of it with the low wooden tables and the plump, molten brass-colored cushions around them. They even put something that would have passed as a rather large futon for the people who would like to lie on their backs rather than sit on their butts all day. There were only a handful of people that he could see, but each of them had a smile on their faces, as though they wouldn't have it any other way. If Tsuna were to decide, he would have loved it if the Vongola mansion were to take an interior make-over inspired of this room.

He set his jaw back up as he looked around to look for the woman. The woman had shoulder-length black hair and captivating green eyes from what he could remember. He found her with Ryo at a counter not far from the big futon. He almost stumbled multiple times because of the obstacles people called pillows. Finally, he arrived at the counter catching Ryo saying to the woman..,

"I see the guild didn't change much, ne Junko?"

Junko half-smiled, half-smirked. "Master wouldn't let such a thing. Says even if we just became a tiny guild, we still could enjoy our everyday lives. The remaining members even moved in here. Ah, there you are, boy. Come here. Ryo told us about your circumstances."

Tsuna blinked and smiled nervously. "That would seem so…"

The woman offered him a glass and the seat beside Ryo. "That job is really hard, if you must know. In our guild, nobody can do teleportation or any of that sort."

"I told him that," Ryo cut off. "But we could use a visit anyway. I'm even planning on taking him to Magnolia. Any good guilds there?"

Junko's smile widened to a grin. "I'd recommend Fairy Tail. They aren't much as they are now as the core members had gone missing the past 7 years. They just got back, actually. But we're good friends with their master. And they're good people, to top it off."

"By the way, kid. You thought this woman here is just around your age, right?"

Tsuna looked at him and nodded.

"Actually, she's just as old as me. Gyahahah!"

He was stopped short on his laughing from Junko's fist. Tsuna just looked at them, a bit horrified.

"That was true, but I don't want to be called _old_ of all things."

She then looked at Tsuna who was being dragged by some boys to drink with them in the other end of the counter. Junko turned from Tsuna's direction then looked at Ryo as though in serious business.

"What are you planning, Okabe? That kid…"

"What? The kid's really in need of help. I just want to help out—"

"You're still on with your reckless self. Don't blame us if you get caught in a fire. That kid is a mage. A strong one at that."

"Don't be silly! He doesn't even know what a guild is!"

Junko looked torn in between scolding her long time friend or just go with it. "That just sounds fishy! He smells like _them_!"

"Them?" Ryo looked at her with furrowed brows. "Who?"

Junko looked around to check if someone was listening in on them. Satisfied, she whispered to him, "Them, the flame users."

"What? But they're a dark guild!" Ryo stood up with a bang of his fists on the table.

"Shut it, you idiot," She said with a finger over her mouth before she pulled Ryo closer to hush him down. "Nobody knows if they're dark or not! They don't even call themselves a guild! He must have a connection to them. And who knows what the council will do! It's a known fact that the council does not approve of their guild but can do nothing about it! They're too strong, and they're gaining numbers ages after ages. If the council knows about him and somehow use him as a bait…"

"You're looking into this too much, Junko. He looks too innocent to be in a dark guild."

Junko looked at him intensely. She sighed as she looked at him, resigning. "Alright. Do what you want; I'll even help you out. But don't go crying on me if something disastrous happens."

"I knew you'd say that." Ryo grinned toothily. "Well then, we're off to Magnolia."

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

"WE'RE HOOOOMEEE!" A certain pink-haired mage greeted as he opened the doors of a rather rundown building with a big smile. Happy flew next to him with an 'Aye!' as Lucy and their visitor just walked normally behind them. I-pin looked like she would explode any minute.

"Welcome back, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and..?" Mirajane greeted them back with her own warm smile but did not now they had a new companion.

"She's I-pin, Mira-san. Natsu saved her from a giant wolf." Thankfully, Lucy answered instead of the shy girl herself.

"Oh, I see!" Mirajane comically banged her fist on her palm. "Welcome to Fairy Tail then, I-pin-chan! I hope you enjoy your stay here!"

I-pin only bowed down in response, eliciting a smile from both Mirajane and Lucy. Happy then took the job on showing I-pin around.

"It seems that she's a very shy girl," Mira commented idly as she and Lucy settled down on the counter.

"Young, and very shy," Lucy agreed. "But Natsu did tell me she must have something up her sleeves."

Mira raised a brow. "And why's that?"

"It looked like the wolf he saved her from had been given a good beating before he burned it. And they were pretty deep wounds, he said. Must be the smell of blood. I swear Natsu's like a dog sometimes."

Mira chuckled in response as she looked at the little girl currently getting introduced to Romeo. She was still blushing scarlet and didn't look like she'd recover any time soon.

"Well," Mira concluded as she put a glass of juice for Lucy, "she doesn't seem to be any danger for us. And she really is young. You think you can take care of her for the mean time?"

"Of course," Lucy replied after a sip from her juice. "I was already planning to, anyway. She said she was transported here by her friend. I'm not sure if I heard right though. She sounds gibberish at some point in her story. But she did say she didn't know how to get back."

"Oh," Mira looked like she realized something but just shook it off.

_That shouldn't be possible_, she thought to herself. _Just because she was transported here doesn't mean anything special. Of course._ She thought about it again for some more moments. _But I'll still tell Master._

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

"Ehh?" Nana couldn't believe her ears. There was just no way that what this young man was saying is true, in one way or another. No, she must have heard wrong. Yes, very wrong.

"I'm afraid you heard right, Sawada-san," the young blond man seated in front of her calmly said as he looked at the woman before him with clasped fingers. "I really am your husband's great grandfather."

Nana looked outside the window of the train compartment they were in. Surely, she would see pigs flying by now. But no, there were only normal-looking birds in sight.

She turned her gaze back to the rather young-looking man who is claiming to be her great grandfather-in-law. Sure, he had the same blonde hair, but the similarities stopped there. This man was calm and collected, but her husband was jolly and nowhere near calm. He likes wearing what look like European clothes while her husband enjoys wearing the uniform of construction workers. And most of all, she could see a blazing orange flame on his forehead. She'd never seen her husband have that.

"H-how am I supposed to tell if that's true?"

When the young man was about to answer, one of his companions whom Nana had seen earlier came in and asked for their attention.

"Excuse me, Boss," the red-haired man had said. Nana noticed how eerily similar he looked with one of her son's close friends. "But it seems that there has been a slight uproar in the mountain regions."

The boss only nodded and excused himself before he exited with the tattooed red-haired man. As they left, another of his companions, the only one of them who wore traditional Japanese clothes, seated himself on the seat his boss left. He took out a shogi board.

"Care for a game?"

OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO ._. OvO

**Please excuse some mistakes that may have been left unnoticed by me (don't have a beta).**

**Alright. Thank you for the kind reviews that you left me. I appreciate it very much. ^_^**

**This story is happening after the core members of the Fairy Tail disappeared for 7 years and returned, but before the strongest guild contest thingy.. **

**And i think i've said that this happens around 2 years after the story line of KHR. **

**Thank you for reading, please do leave a feedback or something, and have a nice day.**

**December 3, 2011**

**/edit: re-posted since i changed something. hope you don't mind. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

The tenth generation guardians had left the kids back at the Vongola mansion (asleep as they were tired from their flight around the world) with the female mist guardian and the Poison Scorpion to take care of them. After making sure things will go _relatively_ alright there, they had made their way to the Bovino mansion for last minute check-ups. Better safe than sorry, as people have said.

They were currently inside a spacious room with only a twin set of sofas present at the center. They gathered around and watched a mechanic (earlier introduced as Caesar) of the Bovino sit down and handle the bazooka with utmost care. Yamamoto and Ryohei had settled down on the opposite sofa, Reborn sitting on the shoulder of the former. Hibari decided against crowding and distanced himself a couple of meters, with trusty little Hibird perched on his dark head. But he continued to observe the said mechanic with his sharp eyes. Gokudera just stood beside the sofa.

"You see here," Caesar started to say, "this bazooka is very tricky. Yes, very tricky. It is tricky, indeed. You want to know why it's so tricky? Do you? Oh, yes you do. You see, the man who made this was also very tricky."

Yamamoto was close to laughing his head off from the way the man spoke, Gokudera was starting to get irritated as tick marks appeared on his forehead, and Ryohei's mouth was threatening to spill a "YOU TALK EXTREMELY ODD, OSSAN!" And simply put, Hibari needed an herbivore to bite now.

"Oh well, enough with the chitchat!" Caesar exclaimed. He was chuckling to himself as though he had heard a good joke. "So, this bazooka, as you have all heard from Reborn-san, will transport you to another dimension, unlike the ten-year bazooka which will only transport you ten years into the future of the same dimension! This one is quite different! I am quite sure you've heard from your elders, eh? Did you? Did you not? Such a tricky invention, eh? I know for my father has passed this technology down to me, as did his father! And so I am quite sure you will enjoy your stay there. Wouldn't it be fun to meet your elders? Hoho, indeed, it will be. Do you have any questions? Any question, anyone?"

Yamamoto looked thoughtful for a moment. "How are we going to get back here, Caesar-san?"

Caesar grinned somewhat evilly. "Hoho, you'll find out when you get there, kid." He looked around questioningly to the others, silently asking for more questions.

"Do we get to know where we land there, or something?" Gokudera asked as he glared at the man slightly. He _really _was getting annoyed.

"Hoho," Caesar's evil grin came back. "Unfortunately, you don't! Hoho! That's why you must be equipped with everything! You might land inside a volcano cave, or on top of an iceberg, and nobody would know! Hoho, but don't worry. We can somehow adjust the settings so that you'll be sure to land on a civilized place. Hoho, lucky kids."

Everybody sweatdropped as they listened to the odd man, with the exception of the ever stoic people such as Reborn and Hibari, of course. The man seemed content with the questions and stood up.

"Hoho, then let's going, kids. May I ask you to stand over there in the corner so that I can shoot you with the bazooka? Hoho, don't worry. It would feel just the same when you get hit by the ten-year bazooka. Hoho… Are you all ready?"

They all scurried to the corner he pointed to, and then nodded an affirmative.

"In the count of three," Caesar muttered. "One… two… three!"

* * *

><p>Yamamoto's head swirled as he felt himself land on a rock-hard surface. He staggered for a few moments before he could finally tell which was left or right.<p>

"Guess I'm dizzy since I'm not used to this teleportation thing," Yamamoto laughed to himself. He took a look at his surroundings and saw a huge white building. It looked like a mixture of Roman and Gothic architectures in his vocabulary, from the number of pillars on the façade and the angular ends of the towers. On each side of the front steps, stood a statue of a hooded figure; Yamamoto raised a brow at this.

Figuring he would not be getting anywhere if he doesn't ask for directions, he started to walk towards the building, staring at the grandiosity of the place. It looked marble to his eyes. When he came to the front doors, he heard voices coming from the inside. Yamamoto quickly took cover behind a wide pillar as the doors opened.

"—just gotten back," the voice exclaimed rather angrily, "and they're starting to be a headache again. Such incompetent fools!"

"Calm down, Org-san," another voice said, comparably younger and calmer in nature. Yamamoto risked a glance and saw a man, indeed visibly younger than the other, with a noticeable scar on the left side of his face. The old man had a balding spot and a long beard. Yamamoto noticed they were wearing some kind of multi-layered uniform.

"Might be some kind of council with that long beard and all…" Yamamoto quickly swerved to his left as something sharp was pushed to his face. He met eyes with a strangely dressed man (presumably a soldier).

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Yamamoto gulped as he thought of an excuse, no matter how silly it would seem. "_Ano_… I seem to be lost. Can you perhaps help me with directions, ossan?"

_Well¸ _he thought, _that's the truth, isn't it?_

The soldier glared at him suspiciously. Yamamoto could see he did not believe his reason in the slightest.

"You are lost and just _accidentally_ came onto the front steps of the Magic Council? Preposterous!"

The soldier proceeded to attack Yamamoto with his spear. However, Yamamoto wasn't a guardian of the Vongola for nothing. Yamamoto easily dodged the spear before he attacked the soldier with the sheathed _Shigure Kintoki_ at the nape. Yamamoto sighed as he looked at the unconscious soldier.

"Just got here and I have to fight already?" he mused to himself. His eyes turned serious as he realized what the soldier just told him. "What did he mean by _Magic _council?"

"Who's there?" Yamamoto heard the man from before shout. He hid immediately behind another pillar. "I know someone's there! Reveal yourself!"

Yamamoto gulped as he heard the marble floor click from the hard soles of the men's shoes.

"If you don't come out, we'll use force, if necessary."

Yamamoto bit his lip. He really shouldn't be getting into fights this early. If he doesn't come out, a fight will be inevitable.

"I'm sorry," he said as he revealed himself, hands raised in submission. "The soldier just attacked me when he didn't believe I was lost."

The younger man looked like he was considering it, but the older looked suspicious more than anything. Yamamoto hoped they would just let him go and be done with it all.

"Do you think we'll believe you, boy?" said the man whom he recalled was called Org-san. Yamamoto groaned inwardly.

"I was hoping you would, sir."

"Well, I don't. Your excuse is too dubious to be accepted."

"Pity the boy, Org-san," the other one said. "If we do not trust him, let us test him then."

"There is no need for that."

The next thing Yamamoto saw was a handcuff coming his way. He avoided it with ease as he gripped his katana, if ever they chose to battle. The two men looked at his katana then back to his face.

"I see," Org said as he stroked his beard. "That katana… It proves everything."

The younger man (Yamamoto still had not known his name) nodded solemnly and proceeded to attack him as a circle of some sort formed around his outstretched hand. Yamamoto took the cue to release Jiro and have him rain his blue flames before they noticed.

The younger man slowed in his actions and the older man looked pensive. Yamamoto still hadn't unsheathed his katana.

"Rain attribute, eh?" Org said. "Now, Doranbolt, I advise you to step aside. His kind is not the easy prey. You do not know their capabilities either, do you? Thank you."

Yamamoto readied himself to whatever the man may be planning to do. It seems that this man knew who he was.

"Excuse me, but how do you—"

"You are a Vongola, aren't you?" Yamamoto felt the old man's glare, even through the shadows cast on his aged face by the pillars. "Brace yourself, boy."

Yamamoto felt a strange shiver down his spine. Then he could remember no more.

* * *

><p>The soft harmonica Procne's daughters were playing that high noon soothed the eighteen-year-old as he walked through a town. Fairly big, he could judge, from the height of the stores and the numerous clutters of multicolored brick houses. Noises buzzed around the streets, through the glowing yellow windows, through the lips of random people passing, chatting as they carried their bags full of goods.<p>

He stared impassively at the vibrant colors that twinkled on the river's expanse and watched as a small boat cut through the fabric of the water. A bit tired of his little journey, he settled himself on the bench conveniently placed along the bank and munched on the bread a young lady had gladly provided him earlier. He figured the people who lived here was weird; giving bread to strangers and all. Then he saw a man, looking around his age, taking his clothes off in broad daylight. That's one reason to be added to the list of 'Why These Herbivores are Strange.'

He calmly looked to his right as a loud voice interrupted his thoughts.

"_Itte_!" a blur of pink, white, and black fell on the pavement with a loud thud. The blur turned out to be human as he sat, and rubbed his head then his behind. He glared as he pointed to a woman emerging from the opened door. "Why the hell did you do that?"

The woman glared back at the man as she put her tattooed hand on her hip. "Shut it, Natsu! I'm not allowing you guys to just come barging in my house anymore!" She looked down on Natsu now that she was only a foot away from him. "Now that there are two of us—_girls_—who are living here, I'll be stricter. It's also for the sake of I-p— for mercy's sake, Gray!"

"Dammit!" exclaimed the man with a horrified look at his bare chest (perhaps shocked that he wasn't wearing anything at all); whom Hibari had seen stripping on the streets. "I swear I was wearing my clothes when I left the guild!"

Hibari continued to watch the scene rolling, having finished his bread moments earlier.

"That's the pervert for ya!"

"What did you say, you pink-haired freak?"

"You said something, ice str—"

"Stop it, you two! You're disturbing the neighbors!"

"Can't care less!" both said at the same time. Hibari reckoned this name-calling was a common occurrence. Finding himself starting to get bored, he busied himself with the thought of where his bird had gotten itself into, until he heard a somewhat familiar voice

"A-Ano… Please don't fight."

Hibari glanced at the direction of the voice and indeed, there stood that young Chinese assassin Fon was constantly talking about. He never admitted it, but he did have a soft spot for that little girl. So tiny and cute like his Hibird and Roll…

But Hibari couldn't care less. It seemed the girl is content with whatever she is in now. He was about to engage himself with another matter when he remembered what had always happened in the occasions that the little brat had seen him.

* * *

><p>Lucy watched as I-pin looked at Natsu and Gray fighting (again) over some random reason or another. She was plainly shocked when she noticed I-pin staring at this guy (a rather handsome one, at that), who was simply sitting down on a bench a neighbor had put on the street. She realized (with widened eyes) that I-pin's usually tightly closed eyes suspiciously became heart-shaped.<p>

Lucy glanced between the young man and the much younger girl, trying to get the reason of the apparent love struck face. Then, something ticked, ominously sounding like a time bomb. The unidentified ticking object chimed again, then again. She looked down at the young girl, noticing markings on her head, one of which coincidentally disappears as another of the chime strikes.

"W-Wait a minute!"

Natsu and Gray both paused at their wrestling-kickboxing fight as they looked at her, heads tilted in confusion. She frantically pointed at the 'bomb' girl as the markings were reduced by one again.

"I swear there's something like a bomb on her!"

She spotted the (magnificent) young man stand up and walk to them, rather hastily. The markings were down to five.

"Move," the hot, silver-blue-eyed man said, his eyes watching the markings on I-pin's forehead.

"W-What're you going to do to I-pin-chan?"

"Hey, you bastard! You trying to pick a fight?" Natsu and Gray glared darkly at the unknown man, clearly thinking he was oppressing their teammate.

The man glared back at them as he looked beyond his shoulders. He looked at I-pin again as the markings were down to three.

"Excuse me, I-pin, but the peace cannot be disturbed."

Lucy stared in horror as she saw the man throw I-pin high to the sky, the ticking of the bomb faintly heard.

A loud BOOM was heard as the windows of the high-rise buildings of Magnolia broke into pieces, sending the bystanders on the streets to run for cover, holding their arms above their heads. The four Fairy Tail members (Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Happy) watched with half awe and astonishment at the explosion that had seemingly come out of the little girl they saved. They looked back at the man who had evidently saved them just now, looking utterly bored as he looked at the sky.

"Just what the hell was that?"

"Did _I-pin_ just explode?"

"H-Hey! What did you just do?"

"Aye!"

The man only looked at them coldly like he did earlier, but answered, nonetheless. "I did not do anything."

"Then what was that just now?"

"I believe that was called Pinzu-Timed Super Explosion."

"Just what the hell is that?"

"Ask her."

He directed his gaze to the girl who just fell on the river with a soft splash. Gray hurriedly jumped to the water and took the tiny girl in his arms. A small yellow bird fluttered nearby, then chirped as it softly pecked I-pin's cheek before flying onto the nameless man's hand.

"Hibari! Hibari!" the bird chirped.

They watched as he petted the bird as it settled itself on his hand before letting it fly off and sit comfortably on his head.

"W-Wait!" Lucy said hurriedly. "T-Thank you, mister..?"

"I do not feel the need to tell herbivores my name."

Natsu growled as he felt himself redden with anger. "What did you say?"

* * *

><p>It was almost noon when the train puffed out a cloud of smoke as it left the station, Tsuna staring at it absentmindedly. He looked at the sign hanging above their heads which read, "Magnolia Station," and sighed as Ryo beamed toothily at him and patted his shoulder in encouragement.<p>

"Nervous, kiddo?" he said as he hoisted his brown leather bag up his shoulder. Junko glanced at him also with her cool emerald eyes. She'd decided to come with them on the last minute. It was a pretty good decision as Tsuna later discovered that Ryo was no good with money transactions. Tsuna also discovered that the money they used was not yen. He groaned when he realized how totally screwed he was.

"I-I guess a bit…" Tsuna looked down at his sweaty palms and thought that what he said was a bit too much of an understatement. He drew a deep breath and followed his two elders out the station. The two walked around as though they've lived in the town all their lives, and took some shortcuts here and there. Tsuna blinked in confusion when the two slowed down their pace.

Ryo looked behind him and onto Tsuna. He cleared his throat. "You want to eat lunch first? Or d'you want to get to Fairy Tail first?"

Tsuna's guts screamed for the latter option. "I think I want to go to Fairy Tail first."

Ryo nodded. "Then let's go!"

Tsuna smiled awkwardly when Junko pulled him near her and positioned him between her and Ryo. Junko remained her arm over Tsuna's shoulder.

"So," she started to say when they turned a left, "what're you going to do now that we're getting to Fairy Tail?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"Oh? I'd say get a job first. Didn't Ryo ever tell you you'd need money to have someone do a mission? Teleportation Magic isn't that much common nowadays, you know. Prob'ly because all the young ones are thinking is battle, and battle, and battle. It's kind of saddening, actually."

His eyebrows scrunched up, both in confusion and in thinking. Maybe he should, but what would he _do_? He was just a hapless, no-good boy. Well, he may be the tenth boss of an infamous family back in Italy, but in this world, there's no such thing as Vongola, right? And even if there was, which was probably not the case, it would do him no good since it is _mafia_, for mercy's sake. Why would the government here hire underworld bosses, instead of putting them behind the bars? Tsuna rubbed his temple. All this thinking was making his head spin.

"You alright, kid? Maybe we should grab some lunch first. You look like you're getting sick."

"N-No, I'm alright. Let's get going, should we?"

Ryo and Junko just nodded and reassured him that they were really near now. True to their word, up a stout hill, a humble building stood atop, a sign yelling out their guild. The exterior looked far from lavish, but Tsuna knew better than to judge things from outer looks now. Summer Ember was more than proof. The two (Tsuna was really doubting if these two were really just friends) looked at him and Junko sighed.

"I've told they aren't pretty to look at right now, but they're strong. I'd give it that. And don't let their apparent idiocy discourage you."

Tsuna nodded and followed them to the doors, which they rapped on to be polite. Tsuna can hear muffled noises through the door. It did seem that this guild was a rowdy one as Ryo had told him earlier on the train.

After a few moments of silence, assuming they were not heard, they just let themselves in. A mug of beer greeted him on the face—Tsuna, to be specific, being the one positioned right in the middle of the door. Well, almost. Tsuna ducked just in time, hands covering his head protectively. Tsuna groaned. This was just so much like home.

* * *

><p>A silver-haired teen brushed off the dirt on his dark pants and cleaned his spectacles before putting them on again. He grumbled under his breath about a certain annoying mechanic and how he would've loved to blow him up to the afterlife. He rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to a rather weird building in front of him. Pink bricks? Wings on the building's sides? Is the owner insane?<p>

Shrugging, he was about to turn around the corner when a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey!" The voice sounded girly. Gokudera decided to ignore it and continued walking away.

"HEY! That was rude of you!" And a rock was thrown, directed at his head. It hurt much, seeing that it was around four fists big. Gokudera growled when he turned around and looked for the owner of the voice.

"Who threw that? Damn it..," he said and rubbed the back of his head. His brow rose when he saw a girl, around the age of 15 with electric green hair, jump down from the rooftop and in front of him. Gokudera scowled. "Just some annoying brat, then."

The 'brat' scowled back at him and another rock hit his head, almost effectively knocking off his glasses. Gokudera noticed her hands were behind her.

"Hey you, stinky brat," he glowered as he loomed over her (she was a bit short) and adjusted his glasses so he'd look more intimidating, "just what do you think you're doing, huh?"

"Making you see me, what else?" She put a hand on her hip as the other pushed him away. She looked at him with her electric blue eyes and continued, "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you to be careful around here. There are a lot of... let's just say _rabid _people who'd take any excuse to get a pretty boy like you."

Gokudera couldn't tell if he was scowling from the thought of these 'rabid' people, or blushing from the compliment. He chose the former. "The hell, kid. I can take care of myself."

The kid just continued to stare at him, probably thinking what to say next. A naughty grin suddenly made its way to her lips when she looked beyond Gokudera's shoulder.

"If you say so, mister," she said which made him look behind him and see a balding fat man, with some kind of failed clown makeup. "Though I'd guess you'd pretty much take back what you just said." She proceeded to laugh silently. Gokudera's scowl deepened as he could feel the man walk towards them.

"Oh my," a voice said from behind, presumably that weird guy. "Aren't you such a cute boy? Mind going inside the guild and have some coffee? I'm sure the girls would love to have a chat with you."

Gokudera inched away from the man. This was worse than Lussuria! That guy may be a pain in the ass but at least he's a strong fighter. But with this man… he can't be too sure.

The man seemed to notice the petite green-haired girl. "Oh, Cessaline! There you are! So you saw him first, huh? I'm sorry. Do you mind if we invite him in?"

The now-named Cessaline smiled sweetly, too sweetly if Gokudera was to decide, and nodded. She grinned even more _sweetly_ at Gokudera as he was grabbed by the wrist and dragged to the conspicuous pink building.

Gokudera frowned deformedly when he saw her mouth, "Didn't I tell you?" and chuckled at his demise.

* * *

><p>A booming voice echoed through the streets, suspiciously sounding like a, "WHERE AM I TO THE EXTREME?" The powerhouse it was heard from looked sharply around his left and right, trying to come up with some kind of idea where to go. Scratching his head in <em>extreme<em> confusion, he set off to a random direction and whistled a happy tune.

Ryohei found himself at the foot of a mountain after several minutes of mindless wandering. Thinking with his usual _extremely_ boxing-oriented brain, he immediately thought it was a good spot for self-training, forgetting for that moment that he was supposed to be on a 'mission' to find his boss and the mother.

Humming again happily, he jogged, aiming to get to the peak before sundown. It was still around noon. He'd paused for some minutes under the shade of a big tree to eat some fruits he picked, before trotting down again on the leaf-covered ground. Looking up, he could estimate that he was getting there in an hour, more or less. Then he heard something from the vicinity.

Squirting his eyes in concentration, it wasn't hard to find the source of the sound. Out of the green cloud of trees, something glistening and icy blue protruded, blinding him for a moment when a ray of the sun reflected on his eyes.

The instant he recovered, he quickly changed his mind and ran to where that thing was. It looked shiny, and cool, and real good for a punching bag. He could have been running on adrenaline, or maybe just because it was downhill, but he arrived there faster than he was jogging towards the top.

Now he stood with his jaw hanging open, inviting hungry flies inside, as he watched at the sculpture before his eyes. No, it wasn't just a sculpture. It was a chunk of the historical age of ice, complete with the frozen bodies of people who lived in the era, perfectly incased and mummified with transparent cold. Something clicked in his mind.

"I think I've _extremely_ seen this before..," he muttered to himself, looking down at the tiny shards of ice that broke off the glacier. Accidentally stepping on a large chunk of ice and sending an unpleasant screech of rubber against ice, he remembered that time when Tsuna fought against…

"Who's there?" a voice echoed through the pillars of ice, undeniably calmer than someone else who could have asked the same question. Ryohei searched around (rather exaggeratedly) for the source of the sound when a cold hand touched his shoulder.

* * *

><p>Reborn stretched out on the couch and stared at the cream-painted ceiling. The small chandelier above him twinkled, reflecting the high noon sun, and the light-hearted laughs of children playing outside. Everything seemed so peaceful in the mansion. But Reborn knew better than to rejoice before the end. There were still some bad scents hanging in the air.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Oops for the late update… the constant malfunctioning of the system wasn't helping, either. <strong>

**I sure do hope I didn't disappoint anybody. I'm trying not to be cliché or something, but I don't know if it's working. Tell me anything you want. I also take flames. Don't worry to tell me something bad or anything. I like receiving feedbacks of all sorts. Anything helps. **

**I'd also like to say that I'm sorry if this chapter has a lot of chops or something like that. I'll try minimizing them next time.**

**I'd like to state that the OCs involved in this story will not take any major part at all. They're there for the sake of the KHR people who are not used to the world. I mean I just can't make them meet in one place when no one even knows where there are, right? But I guess have to warn you. Ryo, Junko, and Cessaline will have some kind of an important part. But don't worry, they even don't get to fight. Ahem, that was a spoiler…**

**Anyway… and Yamamoto's predicament is all a part of the plan *winkwink***


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